New Advent
 Home   Encyclopedia   Summa   Fathers   Bible   Library 
 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z 
New Advent
Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > C > Pietro Castelli

Pietro Castelli

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

Italian physician and botanist, b. at Rome in 1574; d. at Messina in 1662. He was graduated in 1617, studied under the botanist Andrea Cesalpino, and was professor at Rome from 1597 to 1634 when he went to Messina. He laid out the botanical gardens at Messina (1635), where he cultivated many exotic medicinal plants. He was equally distinguished as a botanist, chemist, and surgeon. He stoutly maintained the necessity for all physicians of studying anatomy, and declared in 1648 that he had dissected more than one hundred corpses. The learned Dane, Thomas Bartolinus, was led by Castelli's fame to visit him in Messina, in 1644, and speaks of his activity as a publicist. He wrote no less than one hundred and fifty pamphlets. Among these there is one written in 1653 in answer to inquiries by Hieronymus Bardi of Genoa, wherein Castelli speaks of the cinchona plant and its curative properties in cases of malaria. He seems to have had but little knowledge of the plant, and no experience in its medicinal application. Still, the pamphlet is noteworthy as being the first Italian publication that mentions the Peruvian febrifuge.

About this page

APA citation. Herbermann, C. (1908). Pietro Castelli. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03409a.htm

MLA citation. Herbermann, Charles. "Pietro Castelli." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03409a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Gerald M. Knight.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Copyright © 2023 by New Advent LLC. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

CONTACT US | ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT